House mortgaged to pay for eye surgery, says man

Press, 6 December 1989, Page 9

House mortgaged to pay for eye surgery, says man

PA Wellington The Wellington Area Health Board is investigating claims that an 83-year-old man had to mortgage his house to pay for eye surgery after being on a Wellington Hospital waiting list for more than a year. The Miramar man paid $3200 to have a surgeon take cataracts out of his left eye at Wellcare Hospital, after dealing with the same surgeon at Wellington Hospital for more than a year. His treatment had been continually delayed, he said, with lost case notes and broken appointments. The man said the “waiting list” was kept secret from him to the extent he doubted there was a waiting list at all. He was initially referred to

Wellington Hospital in September, 1988. In August this year he was twice given false hopes of an operation. The surgeon told the man on November 15 this year that the cataracts needed to be operated on immediately at a private hospital to avoid blindness. The surgeon confirmed the date and cost of the operation in writing within 36 hours, the unnamed man has said. The cataracts were taken out of the man’s left eye on November 27. He is still recovering from the operation and shunning publicity. The surgery was a success. The man’s story was passed on to Wellington Area Health Board general manager, Dr Karen Poutasi, by a complaint from board member, Mrs Mar-

garet Bonner, last week. Mrs Bonner, who has described the case as an “indictment” of Wellington Hospital services, has also complained to the Minister of Health, Ms Clark. “What do you do? Wait for a year until you go blind while (the surgeon) tends to his private patients? Then he tells you, in |36 hours, that you can have an operation if it’s done privately. ” A board spokesman, Mr Rod Scotts, said yesterday the matter was being investigated and he expected a reply to Mrs Bonner’s complaint before the encf of the week. He said it was common for medical specialists to practise in ,public as well as private hospitals.